Xi's Anti-Corruption Moves Make China's Public Workers Lose Weight

A new study has revealed a notable decrease in body mass index among Chinese government employees since the beginning of the sweeping anti-corruption campaign that is a cornerstone of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's domestic agenda.

The study's findings point to an unexpected link between the anti-corruption drive and positive health outcomes, indicating wider implications beyond the campaign's core objectives.

Neither high-level nor local government officials, whom Xi famously referred to as "tigers and flies," have been spared in the anti-graft net, which observers note has also been used to purge cadres seen as disloyal. Top military brass and executives of state-owned enterprises have also been targeted.

The study conducted using a nationally representative survey in China, shed light on significant reductions in BMI and weight among government workers. Participants in the survey provided personal information such as their income, expenditures, education and marital status.

Newsweek has reached out to the authors for comment.

China's wine and dine culture has long been central to establishing business and political networks.

"These banquets, typically featuring extremely expensive dishes that are high in calories and proteins [e.g., abalone, shark fin and sea cucumbers] as well as high-end baijiu [grain alcohol], play an important role in establishing connections and greasing the wheels of power," the researchers said.

This dining culture also involves entrepreneurs treating officials to banquets in exchange for favorable treatment.

According to a white paper on the health of civil servants, more than 40 percent were overweight or obese in 2009, just four years before the anti-graft crackdown, the authors pointed out.

Conditions associated with excess food and alcohol consumption, such as hypertension, fatty liver and high blood sugar, were more prevalent among white-collar workers, with a 2012 study finding that more than two-thirds of public employees suffered from at least two such health conditions.

"Moreover, interestingly, the higher the bureaucratic rank of the official, the
worse the health outcomes," the authors observed.

By 2018, the last year included in the survey, 11.6 percent fewer government employees were overweight. Further, provinces under higher scrutiny amid the crackdown saw a larger overall decrease in BMI.

The researchers attributed the lowered BMIs to reduced frequency of eating out and consuming alcohol, as well as increased time spent exercising.

The survey was carried out among 42,590 individuals and 14,798 households. The researchers followed up with respondents every two years from 2010 to 2020. The 2020 survey was excluded from the survey because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study, written by researchers from Wuhan University, Renmin University of China and Nankai University's School of Economics, will be published in the January 2024 volume of the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.

The Chinese Communist Party, which this year handed Xi an unprecedented third five-year term, said late last year that it had investigated nearly 5 million of the party's 96 million members in the past decade and brought formal criminal cases against 553.

The most recent stage of the anti-graft campaign has resulted in the arrest of scores of people connected with the Rocket Force, which oversees the country's nuclear arsenal, and People's Liberation Army organs responsible for logistics and procurement.

Malfeasance in these departments affects the quality of military equipment, and it chips away at combat readiness, observers have pointed out.

The highest-profile targets among this batch of investigations are the former defense and foreign ministers, both of whom had been in office less than a year, as well as the Rocket Forces' top military and political leaders. All four suddenly disappeared from the public eye over the summer.